Star Wars and Earth -- SW and RL
by several authors
Summary: The Empire has found a small planet living far from the main cluster in the galaxy. Wanting to seize the planet for potential trade partners, technology, resources, or all, they decided on a small incursion. Would the Empire have done the greatest mistake after Yavin, or will they succeed?
1. First Encounters

Grand Moff Tarkin and his crew was about to begin construction of the Death Star II when he was called for a little meeting through holoprojector.

"Grand Moff Tarkin," the Emperor said.

"Yes, Emperor?" Tarkin replied back.

"I have news from a fellow captain that a planet, not far into the Unknown Regions, has been discovered. Scans show that there potentially be intelligent life on the planet."

"And what will I be doing about it?"

"You are to get the inhabitants to join you. Do everything you can in your power to do so. They may prove useful for our plans."

"As you wish, Emperor." Then he shut off he holoprojector.

"Men, plot a course to these coordinates. We are sending 2 Star Destroyers and a carrier, under Grand Admiral Grunger's command."

* * *

"Hey there, Jason!" Joseph called.

"Yeah?" Jason spoke back.

"How was your last sortie with your fellow squadron mates?"

"Well, it was exhilarating. Fighting against Su-27's all alone on an F-35 was very scary on its own. I was able to down 2 Flankers before my squadron mates arrived."

Jason is an F-35 pilot, and F-16 ace and trainer, and had once been exposed to the M2 Bradley IFV. He is now assigned to the 58th Fighter Squadron, with Joseph as his wingman.

"So I heard we are assigned to be each other's wingman," Joseph excitedly said. "I bet we will have wonderful adventures in the skies together."

"Yeah, okay…" was all Jason could reply.

Meanwhile, in space, a Rebel Corvette had jumped out of hyperspace towards Earth. Luke Skywalker then peered out of the window to see the blue marble.

"Wow, that is one, beautiful planet," he said.

"Please, don't get ahold of yourself," Han Solo spoke out. "We were sent here to warn the inhabitants of the planet about the Imperial invasion.

"I know but, can they even hold their ground even if we did? Their technology is way too primitive that what even we can throw at them."

"We just have to warn them, okay?" Leia cut in. "Besides, we can leave if they refuse our help."

"I'm afraid it is too late for that. Look!" Luke pointed at the sensor. 150 TIE/ln Fighters are heading towards the planet, along with 10 TIE/sa Bombers. If they are to survive the attack, they need some help. Han launched a stealth probe to see what will happen on the surface.

"Hmm… perfect. Everything is going according to plan," Grand Moff Tarkin spoke with pride. "No rebel ships interfering with our attack, nothing firing at us, this is just perfect."

"This initial assault force will make a dent in the planet's defense system," Captain Marcus said. "Afterwards, we will acquire air superiority and be able to land our troops and machines to destroy ground force resistance."

"This will be easy, since the technological scans showed primitive technology being used all over the planet. After that, we will be the first to set foot on an Unknown Regions Planet."

Of the 150 TIE/ln fighters deployed, 80 survived, with 8 TIE/sa bombers with them. Their target is a small coast 480 miles away: a mistake of the pilots. Luckily, their craft can go for very long distances without refueling. However, the TIE/ln pilots found out that their craft are not quite that maneuverable here. They have lost the edge here. The bombers are unaffected though, and that's good.

* * *

"We got 88 unknown contacts 478 miles out!" over-the-horizon radar operator Willson called out. "Must we engage them?"

"Hmm… Maybe get an AWACS up there to confirm threat," General Arson said. "We can't just risk fighters for a contact we don't know."

"Sure thing."

Onboard the USS Wasp, 2 AV8-B Harriers are performing a small flight exercise. The lead pilot is Canberra Smith. Taking off vertically, they were getting ready for transition when a radio call interrupted.

"All airborne units, prepare to engage 88 unknown flying objects. A Predator UAV is already heading within visual range to identify the contact."

"Ah. I see we are getting a combat operation so quickly," Canberra said. "I think we should go there and meet up with some MiG's."

"Yeah, I honestly think we should," said her wingman.

"This is Caspian-7, heading to contact's last known position" Canberra quickly spoke on radio.

The Harriers are leaving the USS Wasp and preparing to head to the contacts.

"Lightning-1, heading to position. 120 miles out" Jason called. His wingman is flying just above, behind, and to the left of him.

"Copy that, calling for some backup," Joseph replied.

"What for?"

"Just in case we may not be able to fight them alone."

"Why? We have 6 other pairs following behind us. What is there that needs you to call backup?"

"I dunno… Maybe because of the F-35's, and—"

"What is with the F-35's?!"

"They may be outperformed by our current opponent."

"Doh! Fine."

Jason looked high, low, left, right, and behind to check for bogeys. None.

"Alright, target lock!" he said.

"Firing when ready" Joseph said.

"Fox Three!"

The sound of rockets fill the sky as 8 AMRAAM missiles streak through the sky at 4 times the speed of sound. A few seconds later, the missiles hit. 8 contacts went out of the radar screen and HUD.

* * *

The TIE Squadron Leader was shocked to see white streaks coming towards them at high speed. Before they could react, they have lost 8 TIE Fighters in the span of a second.

"Break formation!" said the leader. They spread out so as to avoid being clumped together for an easy kill. Then, they saw tiny specks on their cockpit cupola window.

"Enemy fighters! They are coming! Get ready!"

The 72 TIE's spread out in groups of 8 to help them make surprise attacks. Then, another 8 TIE's got destroyed by the mysterious white streak. But once they got within firing range, they got a good look at the enemy fighters. It didn't seem to have weapons on it, so where did the white streaks come from?

The disoriented pilots tried their best to outmaneuver the fighters, but with reduced maneuvering and acceleration performance due to air resistance, they can't seem to get their mark. Eventually, one managed to get behind one of the strange craft.

"Come on, come on! just a bit more, and-" A pilot gets cut off as he got gunned down from behind

* * *

4 F-22's and 12 F-16's join the fray, with F-22 pilot Floyd Dawson as flight leader. He gunned down the TIE/ln on Jason's tail as he rolled away. Then, F-16 pilot Richard Hillary clipped 4 of the TIE's panels, destabilizing it. All in all, 17 TIE/ln's and 3 TIE/sa's wete destroyed.

"Good work there," said Jason.

"Uh oh, we got more problems..." Joseph started.

3 more radar contacts have been detected by AWACS, but this time, were going faster.

"Forget those fighters, I fear that enemy MiG's are coming in hot," Jason said. "We gotta break."

"Roger," said Floyd. "Good luck."

"Thanks."

The F-22's and F-16's were left alone to clean up the mess while Jason and his squadronmates headed to the unknown contacts.

"I have got a bad feeling about this..." he said.


	2. Preparing for War

8 F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, led by Jason Killic of the USAF, are proceeding to head towards a designated point. They are to intercept and possibly destroy the contacts if deemed hostile. Each had a single missile left.

As they were flying to meet the contacts, they met two AV-8B Harriers coming towards them. They were supposed to be on a dogfight mission, but got lost. They were also near bingo fuel anyways, and required to land on the nearest carrier, and so couldn't follow the F-35's either for an extended time.

A few minutes later, Jason and his squadronmates arrived within 40 miles to the three unknown contacts at 54,775 feet. They activated their trigger, in case the craft was hostile so they can retaliate quicker.

"Everyone, split into groups of two," Jason spoke up.

"Roger, flight leader," replied Lightning-3.

The flights were split with a separation of half a mile for increased legroom when evasive action is required. Once into position, they were 25 miles from their contacts. At 10 miles, they can see speckles in view at one-thirty high, heading right relative to Jason. As they came closer, they saw none other than the iconic T-65 X-wing fighter.

"Oh my gosh, are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" Joseph asked in exclamation.

"Yeah buddy, there are three X-wings at 2 o' clock," Lightning-4 answered with the same tone.

"Think they might be friendly?" Lightning-6 added.

"Only one way to find out." Jason said and turned his craft in lead pursuit of the X-wings.

* * *

"Hey Gold Leader," the X-wing pilot said. "I think we are being locked on."

"What?" Gold Leader replied. "Double check your scanners. They might be acting up again, like usual."

"No matter, we can just evade them anyways should they prove hostile," his wingman said. "Anyways, our targets are up ahead, 85 kilometers away."

"We won't make it in time! We have to get to the middle atmosphere to speed up or our shields will degrade from thermal resistance." the other pilot remarked.

"I agree. Everyone, climb to 35 km up."

"Roger."

The three X-wings ascended up to the middle stratosphere, far above the service ceiling of the F-35's. Jason can still maintain radar contact, but found he couldn't keep up to the ships' speed. He would have to report to the F-22-F-16 squadron to notify them of 3 X-wings headed their way.

* * *

Floyd Dawson and his squadronmates successfully fended off the TIE Fighters, with 4 casualties on his side: 3 F-16's and 1 F-22. He told everyone to return to base afterward. As he was doing so, he got a quick notification message on the radio.

 _"Eagle-3, this is Lightning-1 do you copy?"_

"Loud and clear."

 _"There are three craft headed to the dogfight, suspected X-wings at 279,000 ft at Mach 4"_

"You are kidding."

 _"I am serious. What is there to believe the TIE Fighters we fought are fake?"_

"Anyways, they are far too late already, it has concluded with our victory."

 _"Congratulations then, Eagle-3. Lightning-1 out."_

The 8 F-35's, 3 F-22's, and 9 F-16's returned home with the first victory against extra-terrestrials.

* * *

Of the 150 TIE craft sent, only 6 TIE/ln's and 1 TIE/sa's remained, safely reaching low orbit and ready for translunar injection.

"I don't understand!" said Gortha Homi, TIE squadron leader. "They have actually managed to fend us off! How can that be that a planet, thousands of years behind, manage to push us back?"

"I don't know either," said her wingman, "but they were quite skilled. We need to report this to the Grand Admiral."

As they finished the burn, they coasted quietly through the orbit trajectory and shut off all non-essential equipment during the transfer. That way, they thought, would help them remain undetected from the natives. Only then did they remember that the natives have yet to produce any manned interplanetary craft, let alone decent ones. They waited for about a day, chatting to each other and stationkeeping to avoid members drifting away from the leader. Once the reached the moon, they began a braking burn to get themselves an intercept to the Star Destroyers for docking and asking. They waited for a few more hours before the Destroyers loomed over the horizon. They proceeded to burn towards the ship to get themselves secured and repaired. One of the TIE/ln's had radiator damage, and so was grounded(?) for a while.

Meanwhile, Grand Admiral Josef Grunger went to ask about the mission. Gortha began to speak to him about the fight and how it all fell apart after the native's, formally called The Solians, and their ships managed to break the organized forces from an unknown distance.

 _"It all went awry right from the start. We didn't plan the entry right, and ended up with 59% of what we started with. THe atmosphere was considerably thick, and the ones that did survive had their ship's structural or shield integrity weakened. The ships were now very fragile. Then came the end result of the entry. The mission planner failed to compute exactly where we were expected to land and ended up 770 km from our target. We had to fly the rest of the distance. Then, white streaks appeared from out of nowhere; our sensors failed to properly detect the craft, and we were caught by surprise. What little we actually even detected was misjudged by my wingman. Their craft were very capable, but not quite as maneuverable. It didn't seem to matter to them, since they can easily outrun us. The first craft that we saw, I think I have a holorecording of it, was twice as fast as ours. The craft was an odd, arrowhead shape with two inlets angled the wrong way, vertical tail surfaces that angled away from the craft, and one engine. One engine! Most craft we have engaged had two engines in the least, and I am confused as to why it had one engine. How could it still fly faster than us? Nonetheless, it's cannon fired quickly and with precision. That, and the fact that the structure became more fragile after the entry, made that fighter deadly. We could just as easily destroy it with our own cannons, but it always manages to make its mark faster than us. There were two other craft that I best show you later for explaining would take too much time. There were a few things in common between those fighters, namely, they can't take-off and land vertically, has one cannon, no shields, and are all faster than ours. Me and 6 others barely escaped with our lives."_

"Okay...," the Admiral said, "may I see those fighters?"]

"Sure, Admiral." She took out a holoprojector and showed him the 3 different fighters she'd encountered.

"Hmm... fascinating... I guess we underestimated them. But they only won the air battle. For sure, we will crush them on the surface."

"Yes, Admiral," she replieed before heading out.

* * *

Donald Trump called a conference meeting onto how to deal with the invaders. Whatever they did was an act of war, yet, some vote for diplomacy and peace with the aliens.

"I called this meeting because I have to tell you guys a very disturbing fact."

"What do you think it is?" NASA SETI worker Jason Stone asked.

"I believe... we are being attacked... by Star Wars. The Galactic Empire, to be specific."

"What?" exclaimed many people in the conference room. There were loud arguments and murmurs in the area, which lasted until Mike Pence established order.

"Yes, without a doubt, we are being attacked by a '70s film made by George Lucas." Pence added. "We would all suggest diplomatic relations with the Empire, no question. However, the Empire is known to be power hungry and will not allow anyone else to rule under him or against him. He wants all to join him."

"That is why I am to be increasing funding for NASA to assist us in producing a capable SSTO that could ferry weapons into orbit to be used later. Kinda like a fully-reusable Space Shuttle without boosters."

More talks emerged about the SSTO. The room was full of arguments about that SSTO, how it is unfeasible to construct, how we haven't yet a compact enough drive to do that, etc.

1 hour later, the conference concluded, and everyone was dismissed. As Trump is walking out the hallway, he began to converse to the Vice President.

"So, what other reason should I be adding funding to the Space Agency and not the Military?" Trump said.

"I think it is safe to say that the Military has enough budget for now. NASA cannot do it's experimental SSTO without added funding for research." Pence replied. "Furthermore, even well after the threat has passed, assuming we survive, the Space Agency can do wonders for a bright future."

"Okay. So where are we headed now?"

"Area 51. The most remote facility in America."

"That might be helpful if they did really manage to get the Imperial tech before the North Koreans or the Chinese do. I heard that TIE fighter parts from the engagement are being illegally shipped to ISIS."

And the conversation continued for a while.

* * *

"Status report, Gold Squadron." Han said.

"Negative. Seems to be a bunch of floating debris, possibly from a TIE Fighter."

"Oh darn. The natives did really manage."

"What did I tell you?" Leia said, coming through the door.

"Oh hey... didn't see you there."

"Yeah, I overheard you ranting about something before you talked to the squadron."

"What?"

"Oh my gosh, Leia! Han! Check this out!" Luke called them out to the windows. There, they are seeing what we call the Aurora Borealis. The three can't stand being unsatisfied with the spectacle happening under them.

"Wow, what are they?" Han asked.

"No idea, but they look beautiful."

"Yeah, I think I can wait here a bit."


	3. More Preparations

At Area 51, Trump and Pence arrived. They took a look at the facility, and was rather underwhelming on the outside.

"I know, Mr. President, but looks aren't everything," said Howard Wells, Area 51 engineer. "You will see how impressive inside is."

Wells did a gesture to a small tower near the dummy structure and all of a sudden, sliding doors opened on the surface to an elevator. Trump and Pence were surprised by the advanced mechanism, and boarded the elevator. The elevator was also quick, with both of them feeling the low-gravity effect. When the elevator car stopped, the doors opened to find a facility straight out of science-fiction, with hover technology on some vehicles, high-precision plasma guns, special R&D sections, and more. Pence fainted at the spectacle presented to him.

"Oh my," said Trump while admiring at the machines. "Congress will certainly be – wait… how did you receive funding?"

"From the Secret Government Agency or SGA," Wells replied. "They give us about the same budget you give to the military: US$597B."

"Holy crap! And I must say that what you accomplished here -"

"-is what NASA could have done years ago with the same funding," Wells cut in the dialogue. "We are almost done with our experimental XSF-01 SpaceFire, based off of the cancelled X-44 MANTA, to help with extra-terrestrial defense."

"Which is what just happened 2 days ago," added Trump. "Our F-35's are doing a good job with the TIE Fighters."

"You don't have the armament to fight what other craft are to come. See this?" Wells showed him a shield generator module. "This is recovered from a spacecraft destroyed over the Atlantic. Normal ammunition won't work on it." He fired a few shots of 25 mm cannon to the shield. All shots flattened upon impact with the shield. "The shield did get some damage, but it did no damage inside. Shows that the shield is at 94% after 9 shots."

"Oh shit… but then how come we had destroyed 9 of them?"

"Maybe the shields were out of off. Anyways, here is what we designed a couple of weeks ago. We haven't tested it yet, but it is coming to fruition."

He showed him to a small weapons range. Then, he activated it, making a whirring sound. "May you do the honors?"

Trump fired a shot. He was kicked back by the effects. First the gun made a glowing light near the muzzle. A split-second later it made a loud bang. The projectile exited the barrel at Mach 4, and hit a metal plate 300 meters away. After impact, it shot an additional stream of napalm for an extra 50 meters.

"Holy shit! What was that?"

"That is the new weapon we called the XM-132A Air-to-Air SuperCannon. It fires 30x158 mm HEAT rounds designed to defeat armored units, or in this case, shielded space fighters. Two of these will be used on the XSF-01. We also noticed on the videos that they have no BVR capabilities, so we equipped the fighters with long-range aim-assist to shoot down the aliens before they could even reach us."

"Impressive. The USAF will definitely buy this."

"Unfortunately, we only have 6 sets of the two engines we designed for it. We can only make 3 XSF-01's."

"Say, what are the powerplants?"

"Come, I'll show you." They headed to another area in the facility.

"This is the A51-75/1A solar-reaction engine. It uses solar particles to initiate a reaction. It is a very fuel-efficient and powerful engine, compatible with the slots for the F-119 turbofan. It has additional vents than can vector some of the thrust to help aim the velocity vector towards our heading to help with maneuverability."

"So that means we can also convert our F-22's to fight in space?"

"In a way, yes."

"But what about ground or naval technologies?"

"You saw the hover vehicles, right? We are still developing that in a large-scale AFV, but we have the weapons designed." He opened up an advanced tablet-like gadget and showed him the designs.

"This here," pointing at the screen, "is our newest design. It is a 135 mm coli-assisted smoothbore gun that can be attached to existing vehicles easily. It fires tungsten carbide-tipped APFSDS rounds that can pierce Combination K easily. It can also fire a unique type of HEAT round using a thermobaric explosive and tungsten lining for its high melting point."

"Mmhmm… Keep going."

"And this type of armor here," showing the screen again, "is what we call the Tungsten-Iridium Technologically Advanced Next-Generation Armor, or TITAN Armor. We are trying to develop it to improve upon the Chobham, and will be tested - in small areas, on the M1A3 to see it's effectiveness. It is hoped to be more thermally resilient to protect against thermal and direct-energy weapons. Being harder than Chobham is not a goal. Also, it is only slightly lighter per square inch than Chobham, so can be used to further lighten heavy MBT's."

"Wow. These really are all ahead of time. But I'll be taking my leave now. I am being called back to Washington DC."

"Okay, bye. Looking forward to seeing you soon. And mind picking up your friend there?"

"What?" He looked at the ground and saw Mike Pence, still fainted. "Oh, right…"

* * *

"I have read the reports of our invasion, Grand Admiral," spoke Officer Kunvalov. "Seems we have underestimated the natives... what do we call them? They may as well try, because our powerful weapons of war are not to be underestimasted."

"Get the crew to load up a total of 10 AT-AT's from the fleet with 6 legions to assist. We will need to strike hard," said Grunger.

"But where?"

"Admiral, permission to speak freely, sir?" said an intel officer.

"Granted."

"I have found that there is one nation on the planet that has the highest threat potential, so powerful that it is the mediator. So far, I have found 3 targets of interest." He shows him the holograph. "This is where the leader resides," showing the White House. "This is, however, heavily guarded, and any attempt will just corner our units." He switched the image to a different location. "This is their economic center, located somewhere else," showing the World Trade Center. "Destroying it would put the country in a collapse, but it is in a middle of a city. Even an airstrike attempt will get us nowhere, knowing they can just swat us off the skies." He switched it to a more remote location. "These are their secret tech facilities, in the white lands," showing a small structure in the middle of nowhere. "Here is footage of the facility entrance," he spoke, playing the video feed. "Trying to attack it, however, will result in us losing more than we can spare, so I recommend targeting that last. Also, we found a nice, remote location where we can set up a forward base."

"Where is it?"

"It is a small, unpopulated island north of the 'mediator' nation. Large enough to support a large base. There, we can continue our invasion with greater speeds."

"Okay, have our units land on the island instead. We will begin our true invasion later. For now, we'll build a base on the planet surface. Hopefully, we can be enlightened about the planet, it's culture, and stuff."

"Thank you, Admiral."

* * *

Jason is flying with Joseph with 6 others on the F-35A. This is a quick patrol mission, scanning for the alien craft. As they were flying, they noticed 24 orange streaks of what he assumed would be either a deorbiting space station, which is highly unlikely, or the aliens trying to invade again.

"This is Lightning-1, requesting to go off-course for investigation," Jason called.

"Permission granted, Lightning-1," Home Base replied.

"Roger that." Jason and his squadronmates turned towards the orange streaks when he noticed some of them exploded, adding to the orange fireworks. He assumed that the craft was going too fast for its shields to handle, so it disintegrated. They put safety off to prepare for a fighter engagement, but didn't fire. They decided that they won't fire a shot unless they were engaged. They kept 50-65 miles away from the contacts and took some pictures. After evaluating the situation, he decided to follow them for intel.

"Lightning Squadron, hold your fire," said Jason. "Fire only when engaged."

"Affirmitive, Lightning-1," said his squadronmates.

They flew for another 30 miles when they noticed the craft dropping from level flight. He then chose to ask a nearby F/A-18F pilot to investigate the craft, since he is nearer. He agreed, and what he inferred is that they are setting up camp in an empty island in Canada.

"Canada?! That is bad! We will plan for a future airstrike on the craft, for now, we gotta bug out."

"Roger." said Joseph.

While they were flying, they saw 8 more unidentified contacts on their HMD's moving at Mach 0.85 50 miles to the left. He dismissed it, because he wanted to go back to base, and ran full afterburner. It would seriously cut their range, but all he cared now was to get back fast.

* * *

"This is Red Leader to Local Base, our sensors detected 8 local fighters moving left relative to us at 1976 km/h, almost twice as fast as us. What do we do?"

"Try activating your shields to catch up. It would help." replied Han Solo.

Red Squadron proceeded to open up their shields and go Mach 2.7; faster, and they'll have to deal with increased atmospheric heating.

After a few minutes that seemed forever, they finally intercepted the fighters. What they observed is that it is visually nice to look at. All the edges are placed right where they are needed to be. There was a single, large engine at the back, which surprised them, since X-wings had 4. It looked harmless, but he assumed that the weapons are hidden since it is a fighter. He also noticed it had two canted vertical tail surfaces, and wondered what it is for.

He tried calling the squadron with different comms frequencies, which eventually worked.

"This is Red Leader to the local fighter squadron, do you copy?"

"Red Leader, this is Lightning-1, please be advised you are approaching U.S.-controlled airspace, I recommend you break off." Jason replied.

"Negative, I am curious about your military capabilities and wish to enter your borders."

"Ugh, fine." He switched frequencies to Home Base. "This is Lightning-1, requesting Red Squadron to land in the airbase."

"Negative, we will be sending a single F-16V to evaluate the situation before we fully confirm."

"Red Leader, I advise you keep close to me. They are sending another fighter to intercept us."

"Copy, Lightning-1."

7 minutes later, the F-16V approached visual range. The pilot observed 8 T-65's flying side-by-side with the F-35's. He confirmed the situation, and Home Base opened up its runways for the fighters.

At the same time, Red Leader saw the F-16V. He saw a very different design with a menacing appearance with 8 missiles, with the same single-engine look. By now, he is wondering if all fighters here have only one engine for power.

When they arrived to Home Base, Lightning-1 ordered Red Squadron to loiter above the airbase until after all of Lightning Squadron has landed safely. To this, Red Leader complied, and proceeded to shut off its shields in preparation for landing.

"Red Leader, you are clear to land."

The ground crew were amazed about how efficient their lift system is, smoothly and gracefully landing vertically in a neat grid. Almost everyone wanted to take one apart and study it, but had to restrain themselves when they saw how complex the wiring is. They didn't need to, anyway, since they acquired a TIE/ln.

Red Leader introduced himself as Garven Dreis, his direct wingman, Red Two, as Prav Galen, and Red Three as Darwin Cobalt.

"It is certainly a pleasure to meet you three," said the commanding officer. "Come, let's talk a bit."

"Uh, okay."


	4. The War is On

When the Imperial Landing Forces arrived on the empty island, they unpacked the construction materials. From there, they began to establish a front on the planet.

"Hey, buddy," a Stormtrooper said, "do you think we will win?"

"I don't know, man. They seem too powerful." another replied.

"Hmm... it may seem so, but they only won in the skies. We will crush their land forces as easily like a knife through butter."

"Okay, but how do we suppose to attack them with?"

"We will use our tried-and-tested AT-AT's to demolish any opposition. Then, the AT-ST's will clean up the mess."

"That is a nice plan. The commander-in-chief will be pleased."

"The commander-in-chief made the plan."

"Oh."

"But anyway, enough talk. We have construction to do."

"Yep."

* * *

"And here we have the fighter with the best track record, the F-15C Eagle, with 100 kills to no losses."

"Wow," said Garvin, "I would love to have something so perfect. How did you do it?"

"Designed by McDonnell Douglas in the 1960's, the combination of a high thrust-to-weight ratio, advanced avionics, and superior training led the F-15 to be the top fighter jet in the world. Armed with 4 AIM-9L Sidewinders and 8 AIM-120C AMRAAM's with a 20mm M61A1 Vulcan 6-barrel rotary cannon, it can tear any aircraft to ribbons"

"Amazing... I would love to see them try to defeat us, though."

"Yeah, but the F-15 isn't the most capable fighter. The F-35 is."

"Is it the fighter we saw outside?"

"Yep. They are the ones. But don't try to ask about it, because we don't know everything about it.

"Oh, okay."

"Moving on, we have-"

"Commander! We have a problem!" called out a radio operator.

"What is it, Dallas?"

"The Imperials have staged an attack on Texas! Ground units there are calling for support. We need to act fast!"

"Texas? That is 520 miles from here! It'll take a long while to get there. but we will try. Get 8 F-22's on mixed-combat loadouts. They will fly there as fast as possible."

"Yes, sir."

"What is it, sir?" asked Garven.

"We are under attack again. We cannot risk losing a state from the homeland, so we sent 8 of our most advanced air-supremacy fighters to fly there. They are not our fastest though, but they're stealth."

"Why stealth, though?"

"It enables us to fly into denied airspace undetected. We hope to surprise any form of air support they have while attacking their ground units."

"Oh, that's cool. Can we bring our X-wings?"

"Not until we have modernized your flight and combat computers. But you can try fly our deadly F-16V's."

"That's fine."

* * *

In Texas, 19 pods landed in an open spot. The pods' walls fell off, revealing 1 large, 4-legged walker with 4 smaller biped walkers and 50 white-clad men. They wrecked havoc in the state, destroying anything that looked like a military facility. The local military tried to stop them, but the bipeds shredded them with their plasma. Because of this, the US Marine Corps, the US Army, and the US Air Force were alerted. After 24 minutes, almost half of Texas was obliterated when 8 F-22's appeared. They surveyed the area, checking for AAA's and enemy fighters, then dropping Mk 84 2000 lb JDAM's on the smaller bipeds to help reduce the workload of the American ground forces.

* * *

"Whoa, what are those things?" called an AT-ST pilot.

"It looks like... oh no..." another called just as he was destroyed by a bomb.

"Crap, crap, crap, keep moving!" the pilot called, hoping to increase the difficulty of hitting them. It didn't work.

16 AT-ST's were destroyed, two for each fighter. This sort of accuracy, they thought, can only be achieved by pilots who can track them from above, and precisely drop their payload exactly where they would be when it arrived. No amount of random movement can stop the bombs.

As the fighters flew off into the distance, they detected a formation of 133 vehicles. 35 of them had a large gun, while the rest kept their smaller arms.

"Commander," called a Stormtrooper, "what do we do now?"

"We destroy their land forces, then, we can assure us a spot in their 'nation'."

"Roger."

The AT-AT's opened fire at the vehicles. For them, victory is assured. Every single shot of their high-powered blaster cannon destroyed the vehicles in one shot. However, when the enemy opened fire, their shots ate through the tough durasteel armor much more easily than blasters of comparable strength. Eventually, realizing that they are outgunned, made a forced retreat.

* * *

35 M1A2 Abrams MBT's and 98 M2A3 Bradley IFV's of the US Army arrived to the scene as the USAF's F-22's flew away from the battlefield. Upon seeing the AT-AT's, they noticed a glaring design flaw; one that was very obvious, but usually unnoticed.

"Alright, gentlemen," said a tank commander. "Aim for the legs. Fire on my command."

"Affirmative," called 3 tankers almost in unison.

Just then, they saw red bolts of plasma hitting and destroying their tanks and IFV's. It reminded the commander of a part of their National Anthem: _"And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in the air,_ _"_. The bolts were the same red the rockets had once burned. Their fellow tankers being destroyed did not demoralize them as he gave the next order.

"Everyone, load a HEAT round and fire one shot!"

Every remaining Abrams fired HEAT shells through their 120mm smoothbore cannon, aiming at the walkers' large legs. The HEAT rounds' explosive melted a thin tinfoil sheet lining the inside, making a hot burst of molten metal. It began to eat away at the durasteel, eventually reducing the structural integrity enough to buckle under the mass of the machine.

The tank commander was satisfied that HEAT shells work on the tough "composite structure" of the enemy. He is confident to continue firing.

"All M2's, fire at the bipeds. We will handle the larger ones. The rest of the M1's, fire at will!"

The Bradley IFV's fired their chainguns at the exposed cockpits of the bipedal AT-ST's, incapacitating, if not killing the pilots. The M1 crews fired more HEAT shells, until the Imperials were forced to retreat from the battlefield.

"Yeah, that's what we're talking about! Everyone, drinks on me."

During the engagement, 17 M1A2's and 54 M2A3's were destroyed. On the enemy's side, 13 AT-AT's and all of the AT-ST's disabled or destroyed. No F-22's were shot down.

* * *

Meanwhile, at AFB "Home Base", Garvin and the team are training with the other pilots.

"Very nice, but that is not how you effectively avoid a heat-seeker."

"Oh darn."

"Don't worry, I am here to help you adapt to our combat doctrines."

"Okay."

"That's the spirit! Now let's do that again."

Garvin and his wingmen are training in the F-16V's against aggressor F-16C's. So far, they have lost every scenario more than twice. Even with countermeasures, the trio gets shot down almost every time. This time, however, they are trying their best to win at least one dogfight in the fighters.

"Okay, so, how is the modernization going?"

"Going great, except we have no idea how to program a hyperdrive."

"Oh, really? Well then, I will call some engineers after this 'mission'."

"That'd work. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

* * *

"UNACCEPTABLE! How can they be so effective in combat? They are thousands of years behind us in technology."

"I don't know, Admiral, but this is what we have observed thus far." The Co-Admiral shows the video sent by the AT-AT. It showed 8 arrow-shaped craft he identified as one of the three types that denied them of air superiority. Then they began to drop their bombs with accuracy so good that he swore that those were drone fighters.

"Not only that, but we got reports saying that the locals' land vehicles' slugs punched through durasteel. And we detected no signs of any type of material on the planet that had anything capable enough to do so."

"WHAT?! Now I am through. We need to bombard them from orbit. They will be helpless if that happens, as we will destroy everything that they care about, and they can't so anything about it."

"Admiral! We've got a problem." calls the Captain.

"What now? Can't you see we have bigger problems?"

"No sir, but I have spotted Rebel activity near the planet. 4 Corvettes have been detected in low orbit."

"HARGH! Get a Star Destroyer there to engage. Then, we will destroy the locals."

"Yes sir... oh no."

"What?!"

"Rebel fighters coming in fast! What to do?"

"Intercept them. We can't have them ruin our plan we have worked on for 4 months."

...

"NOW!"

"Yah-es sir!"

The Captain ordered the fleet to dispatch every single fighter they have to destroy the Rebel force. But then, even before they got to visual range, they got gunned down by invisible slugs. They assumed that it was the locals, since no one, not even the Imperials, have the capability to strike that far. But then, how do they have an advanced space fighter? They have yet to have proper drives for extended periods in space. 23% of their fighter force got destroyed by the time they got into visual range. Now, they will show the locals who they are dealing with.

* * *

 _Earlier..._

"Mr. President, NASA has received a transmission from the 'Rebel Alliance' about an Imperial Fleet orbiting the Moon."

"What? And they have only been detected now?"

"No, NASA had discovered multiple objects in lunar orbit 4 months ago. They dismissed it, thinking that they are just a cluster of asteroids passing by."

"Oh my! What do we do now?"

Trump began thinking. How does one intercept an object in lunar orbit in a way that offers 0 separation from center of mass? That would take a lot of computing power to attempt that in such short notice. Then, he remembered his visit at Area 51. He remembered about the space fighter that he himself witnessed. Now, he thinks, would be the time to use them.

"Call Area 51. Tell them we desperately need their space fighters."

"Okay, getting them online now."

* * *

"But Mr. President! We only have 4, and the fourth hasn't finished testing yet."

"It doesn't matter, as long as its basic functions work."

"Yeah, about that, only the life-support, engine throttle control, weapons system, and orbital computers have been installed on the fourth. Not enough to bring to combat."

"That will do. Tell them to bring it to a translunar intercept orbit with the unknown objects."

"Ugh... fine."

The call cuts off and Trump is about to leave when he decides to call the Rebels. He knows that he is going to need help to be able to effectively fight the enemy.

* * *

 _Back to present..._

4 XSF-01 experimental SpaceFires supported by 9 A-wings coast toward the Lunar Imperial Fleet. Their mission: Harass the opponent in a way that will demoralize them and reduce their combat effectiveness.

"Everyone, report," calls the SpaceFire leader, call-sign _"Shooting Star"_.

"Copy," the three replied in succession.

"Copy that!" the A-wing pilots called as well.

The incomplete SpaceFire led the attack force. Lacking advanced shielding and long-range communication, he relied on his immediate wingman for protection. The A-wings were fast, and had gimballed guns, but lacked shields.

"Alright. You know the drill. Orient yourselves behind us, while we snipe any enemy opposition until visual range. If there are, and comes within visual range, you take over and shred them."

"Affirmative."

Then, the sensors detected a large cluster of TIE craft. They order the A-wings to fly behind them in order to protect them. Then, the SpaceFire's on-board systems got a firing solution.

"Alright everyone, guns, guns, guns!"

A flurry of invisible 30mm rounds zipped through the vacuum of space. The on-board electronics and computers accurately calculated not only the required gun lead on each craft, but the necessary burst mass needed in order to conserve ammo. When the bullets arrived to their targets, they bored through the tough transparisteel window, killing the pilots. It also wore down the shields extremely quickly, in which the TIE bombers and interceptors get shredded by the rounds.

When they arrived within visual range, the SpaceFires retreated, allowing the A-wings to take lead to shoot down the TIE craft with its insane maneuverability and acceleration. They managed to destroy more of the enemy attaining a high kill ratio. After a while of space combat maneuvering and dogfighting, the TIE's began to retreat. Here, the SpaceFire began to fire again their guns, killing of almost all of the remaining fighters. Now they continue on their main mission. They begin to perform an series of burns, setting an intercept course that will take them 40 miles behind the Imperial fleet.

"Alright, prepare for 'Operation: StarShot'."

"Affirmative, preparing for slow approach."

"Copy."


	5. Interlude

**Operation: StarShot  
** ̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬  
 **Status Report: Going really smoothly**

The SpaceFires' long-range gun-targeting computers hit their intended mark really well; the 30mm guns a blazing. To compensate for the recoil, the thrusters are turned on at very low impulse. Each 30mm HEAT shell struck the badly-shielded shield generators. With one down and three to go, the SpaceFires switched targets. With each long burst, the shield generators went down one by one. Eventually, the pilots managed to disable the shields after 4 minutes.

Because of the lengthy process of destroying stuff from a very long distance, the A-wings were instructed to fly within proximity and defend them while they were attacking the Star Destroyers. The 9 pilots broke away and scanned the area. Although the A-wings were weakly shielded, they were fast and maneuverable _(as if it wasn't blatantly obvious to all of you Star Wars fans)_ and could intercept any offending force in seconds.

At the Imperial fleet, things were nasty. First, both Star Destroyers had their shield generators blown to smithereens by an unseen force. Since the SpaceFires used non-tracer bullets _(they don't need tracers)_ , the only thing the crew could do is order a swarm of TIE Interceptors to attack them. At the same time, the stealthy shape and design of the SpaceFire made it a bit more difficult to track than a 5-meter asteroid, and they can only guess where they are based on the location of the A-wings, which lit up on the sensors like bonfires.

* * *

"What! Is it true? The Rebels actually helped the locals _(Seriously, I can't think of any other name for us other than Sol-3)_ fight us?" called the Fleet Admiral.

"Yes, sir. The locals have actually destroyed our shield generators," said his second-in-command Bretjas Hudtho. "We need to jump out now to get repairs."

"We can't jump out knowing the Rebels are here. They can track us."

"What other choice do we have?!"

"Please. We really can't afford the Rebels finding out our secret weapons."

"Hargh, fine..."

"That's the spirit! Fight with everything we've got! Send in all invaluable assets to locate and destroy the native starfighters."

"Yes, sir..."

Bretjas knew that a prolonged fight will get them destroyed, especially with a force that actually knows more tactics than them. Then again, he also knew that they are inexperienced in space travel, or so he thought.

* * *

Back at Area 51, Howard is putting all resources into space defense and weaponry. After further testing, the TITAN armor was not exactly as tough as he and his team had envisioned. So, they moved to better materials, helped a bit by the Rebels, and after a week and a half, made a new product that is half as cheap, half the mass, but 4 times as tough as Chobham armor. They named it Supernova Armor, able to withstand over 125 kJ of kinetic force, and over 7000K. It is also the perfect balance of hardness and toughness: not to brittle, but not too ductile.

"Howard!" called Danna Lueson or the R&D. "what can we do with the new Supernova armor?"

"We can't use them for our projects yet."

"Why?"

"It cost us $403M dollars just to get supplies, and about twice more to develop it. Until we get better access to those extra-terrestrial materials, we are stuck with Chobham and TITAN."

"Oh, darn. I guess further studying required to get the optimal mixture from our and their materials. Hopefully, we can get the best of several worlds."

"I commend your perseverance, Danna. So, how are the SpaceFires going, Johnson?"

"Doing fine, sir. The stealth characteristics of the X-44 was far more effective than we had anticipated. Once the A-wings had broken off, they had left virtually zero sensor feedback. The special components we also developed were effective at bringing the waste heat away from the craft's systems and into the powerplants, where they are needed the most."

"Wow! I am so proud of us."

"You should be. After all, all those years in secrecy, and we can finally bring our developments to the light."

"Ah, if only life were this easy..."

* * *

Garvin, Prav, and Darwin finished their 4-day dogfighting exercises. They are certainly well-equipped to fly any fighter that the folks at Home Base had in their hangars.

"Wow, that was cool," Garvin told his wingmen.

"Yeah, with a bit more time, we might even beat them in dogfighting," Prav replied.

"The next time Incom builds a new model, I will personally request them to add stealth and BVR stuff on their next project," said Darwin.

"No you wouldn't," Prav jokingly told him.

"Oh yeah, I will."

They walked to the entrance of a cafeteria to grab something to eat. They both had spicy curry for their lunch. To say they liked it is an understatement, as they thoroughly enjoyed every single bite of the meal. They could only wish they could eat these every day.

After lunch, Garvin decided to walk into a hallway leading to the archives. While walking there, he met Yhanna Kelly Willson, Air Force Intel Officer.

"Hi," she said.

"Oh, hello, Miss..."

"Yhanna. Yhanna Willson."

"Okay, so, what do you do here?"

"I work as intel officer at Home Base."

"What is it like?"

"You know, giving pilots instructions, warnings, news, that sort of stuff."

"Oh."

"So, what does bring you here, walking to the archives?"

"I want to learn more about this base, its history, and, you know, about this planet's capabilities."

"Oh, I am afraid you will be restricted to unclassified information until we can truly trust you."

"Oh, okay. I was just asking. I'd better be going to my room."

"Sure. Bye."

"Bye."

* * *

 _ **AREA 51  
**_ ̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬̶▬

Things are going well at the facility. Nothing odd happening, besides stuff that we consider alien. Area 51 has done a great job at hiding from the Imperial's tech sensors due to the underground location. Since 1947, two years after WWII, their job had been to produce cutting-edge technology, and later, highly advanced technology ahead of its time. Area 51 had been working on SSTO orbital fighter in 1964, and advanced transportation and powerplants a bit later. Their security is also said to be top-notch and unbeatable; so far, no hackers had been able to get through their own operating systems since its conception. Not even a bystander that so happens to discover beyond the secret facility made it out to tell the tale.

While Area 51 was, and is still impossible to just bust into the facility, nothing stops a determined faction to try and take over all of what makes Area 51 unique. Even the pesky Imperials.

* * *

 **Authors' Note:**

 _So, back at it again with a chapter. Sorry if it was very short, I had too little material to work with now. However, I am planning filler Chapters to help give better understanding about the events that had happened; and to increase my word count. Feel free to review if you liked this chapter._


End file.
